Candidates should nix outside $$

Sunday, January 20, 2013 -- Anonymous (not verified)

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Kimberly Atkins

Monday, January 21, 2013

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Kimberly Atkins

WASHINGTON — Now that the 2012 campaign season is officially over and the winners — right up to the president — have taken their oaths of office, voters can take a breather. Except for those in the Bay State, who will have no reprieve from negative ads, name-calling and all the other fun that will come with the third U.S. Senate race in less than four years.

But this time, the Massachusetts special election to fill U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry’s seat — after he is confirmed as secretary of state, as expected — will be the only game in town. You can bet that deep-pocketed, corporate-funded special interest groups, with all the legal force of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision behind them, are waiting to get in on the action — particularly with contentious battles over issues such as gun control and immigration reform looming.

If there ever was a time for a People’s Pledge to keep these outsiders out, it’s now.

We already have the playbook from the last Senate race, when the candidates managed to banish outside spending in the race with a simple promise to donate campaign cash to charity. To the surprise of many — myself included — it worked. Both Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren managed to end the race with positive favorability poll numbers — something candidates in other super-PAC cash-flooded Senate races can’t claim.

For now, the confirmed and potential special election candidates won’t say whether they’ll back another pledge. It’s just too early to consider, sources from both parties tell me.

True enough, without even knowing who will be in the race or whether there will be a primary battle, it’s tough to hash out a detailed pact. But the principle of banning outside cash is something every candidate can sign onto now, even before the field is set.

After all, the candidates will be in a great position to spare voters the kind of third-party attack ads that largely have displaced reasonable political discourse in campaigns across the country. U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey already is sitting on more than $3 million in campaign cash. Brown may have less — roughly half a million, according to the latest figures — but he’s demonstrated his ability as a major fundraiser, helping to make the last race the most expensive in history. Even if Brown opts to sit out this one in favor of making a bid for governor next year, the GOP will ensure that whoever emerges as its candidate is well-funded. The absence of other races makes fundraising easier.

Once again, we could have a race where every claim, promise, accusation or low blow will have to be personally backed by the candidate seeking to benefit from it. It’s no time to reverse course.